Is Your Child ODD?

Filed Under humor, pop culture, rants | 3 Comments

So today I was browsing the mommy boards when I came across a post by a woman who works in a children’s hospital. The topic was the rampant diagnoses of children with psychiatric problems like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Well, this woman remarked on the latest dubious psychiatric label: “Oppositional Defiant Disorder” - which she termed as: “You need your a$$ whooped!” I didn’t even believe that she was serious (and I don’t condone corporal punishment) but sure enough … from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (emphasis mine):

Children With Oppositional Defiant Disorder

No. 72; Updated December 1999

All children are oppositional from time to time, particularly when tired, hungry, stressed or upset. They may argue, talk back, disobey, and defy parents, teachers, and other adults. Oppositional behavior is often a normal part of development for two to three year olds and early adolescents. However, openly uncooperative and hostile behavior becomes a serious concern when it is so frequent and consistent that it stands out when compared with other children of the same age and developmental level and when it affects the child’s social, family, and academic life.

In children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), there is an ongoing pattern of uncooperative, defiant, and hostile behavior toward authority figures that seriously interferes with the youngster’s day to day functioning. Symptoms of ODD may include:

frequent temper tantrums

excessive arguing with adults

active defiance and refusal to comply with adult requests and rules

deliberate attempts to annoy or upset people

blaming others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior

often being touchy or easily annoyed by others

frequent anger and resentment

mean and hateful talking when upset

seeking revenge

The symptoms are usually seen in multiple settings, but may be more noticeable at home or at school. Five to fifteen percent of all school‑age children have ODD. The causes of ODD are unknown, but many parents report that their child with ODD was more rigid and demanding than the child’s siblings from an early age. Biological and environmental factors may have a role.

Click on link above for more, including the possible “treatments” - which mainly seem to be GOOD PARENTING. Seriously … what will it be next? And those percentages seems very high! And wow - “biological and environmental factors may have a role?” Ya think? I mean, what ELSE would have a role if not one or both of those things?

**flabbergasted**

Popularity: 25% [?]

Mar

11

Epiphany about Racism

Filed Under anecdotes, race, rants | 9 Comments

The LH and I talk about race at least once every day, and last week I had a real moment of epiphany. We were talking about this black, Christian minister named Jesse Lee Peterson, who appears on Fox (Bill O’Reilly’s show in particular) to confirm all the anti-black feelings the white viewers of the show want to see justified. In one particular segment he made the statement that “most - not all, not all - but MOST black people are immoral.”

I got so angry, I called him a “self-hating black man.” (Wrong, I know.) Then I got all indignant about the “lynch him in a back alley” comment about Tiger Woods from the white lady on the Golf Channel; and Fuzzy Zoeller’s earlier statements about Tiger Woods and “fried chicken” and “collards, or whatever they like to eat.” Of course, Tiger never takes offense to any of these things and publicly “okays” these things. And then there is that nutcase Pastor Hagee, (endorser of John McCain) who after being called out for advertising a “slave auction” as a church fundraiser claimed not to have “a racial bone in my body.”

So I was complaining about these things. “What does a white person gotta say before other white people will agree it’s racist!?” I was pretty hot under the collar. All I want is for somebody to stand up and just ADMIT they were thinking racist things. Just admit it. Don’t try to act like the rest of us are overreacting morons. Take responsibility, for heaven’s sake.

But then Michael (the LH) pointed out that the reason lots of people won’t call something racist is because they believe it to be true. For white people like O’Reilly, he said, if it’s true, it’s not racist. The reason they get so indignant when accused of racism is because they see it as punishment for being honest.

Hmm. If true, that would certainly explain a lot. I’m going to have to mull that over for a while. Who knows; maybe the same applies to other things, as well (e.g. ageism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, etc.). I swear, one day, I’m going to better understand these things from a non black woman’s perspective. Heaven knows why I feel it’s necessary.

p.s. Despite my anger, I do understand the mentality of the self-hating black person; I do. But I still want to gouge my eyes out when I see that Rev. Peterson has a chapter in one of his books titled, “Why Black Women Are So Mean.” Michael’s response is to laugh at racism (both internalized inferiority and superiority). I might laugh sometimes, but my blood pressure still goes up.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Mar

3

Thoughts on Prisons

Filed Under heteropatriarchy, media, rants, sadness | 3 Comments

I had the misfortune of seeing a few minutes of an MSNBC show about prisons. It was about “dangerous” teenagers in jail. I got to see a young man be pepper-sprayed and then face planted by four guards for kicking a door and resisting going into segregation. Something about the way prison was depicted in this show - and in a previous episode that I watched with my grandmother the other day - dismayed me. It was a flat portrayal - no analysis, no critical eye, no reflection … just a paint by numbers depiction of how tough and scary working in a prison is.

I’ve been in prisons before; it’s not fun. It’s not a place you want to be, even as a visitor. But didn’t it disturb anyone else - the people making this show - to see a teenage boy on the floor groaning while grown men called out “get the shackles?” And “decontamination” showers. What are we doing here? What is the point?

The LH says that he’d like to see prisons operate on a completely different model. Right now they are run like schools; but perhaps instead they could get funding based on how well they rehabilitate. Prisons who churn out repeat offenders lose funding, and lose inmates. Competition can be a good thing; the people running prisons would be motivated to do a better job. As it stands today, it’s actually good for prisons when someone gets locked up again, and again, and again. Hey, who says crime doesn’t pay?

Popularity: 18% [?]

Feb

1

Death in a Classroom

Filed Under college studies, history, rants | 4 Comments

I had no idea that the history of the Middle East could be so dull. I say this as we enter the final two hours of today’s class - (it’s 24 hours of lecture over three days). The professor is exceedingly nice, but his style of teaching is not engaging, the syllabus was unclear (and inaccurate), what he’s telling us is all written (better) in the book he assigned (Goldschmidt and Davidson’s A Concise History of the Middle East), and he does not invite any kind of critical thinking about the subject.

Right now I have a powerful need to graduate, and get my frickin degree, so that I can teach Islamic history!

Maybe it’s just the hormones talking. I do seem prone to feelings of rage and impatience recently. But in all seriousness, this classroom feels like the Nazgûl passed through here. Jeezus.

*****

Side note: there is a classmate here who looks almost exactly like Chalice Chick. They even have the same voice. This is the most interesting thing about my class.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Jan

25

Unpredictable Hardware

Filed Under lil things, rants | 2 Comments

One would think, that after dropping a laptop down the house stairs several times, dropping it onto the floor at airport security, and maybe once or twice in a parking lot, that the laptop would be pretty indestructible. Instead, the thing fails me. It slides - not falls - off the sofa onto the carpeted floor of the family room, and suddenly it looks like the fax machine in Office Space.

So unfair.

Popularity: 16% [?]